When an instrument-rated pilot thinks of an approach, he or she likely pictures a so-called standard instrument approach procedure, or SIAP, the published approaches we all have come to know and “love.” A SIAP is described in FAR Part 97 and in published charting data available from the FAA and Jeppesen, for example. Standard approach procedures are available for use by any operator with the appropriate equipment, unlike “special” approaches, which typically are for government, military or private use. Unless you’re flying for an operator who uses a special approach, when you fire up an electronic flight bag like ForeFlight or flip through a Jeppesen terminal procedures binder, you’re looking at a SIAP.
But it can be rare to actually use a SIAP, especially among personal aviation operators: The typical way an IFR flight ends is with a visual approach to the destination. The visual, of course, allows us to short-cut flying the full, published approach procedure while maintaining our IFR clearance. Although some visual approaches are charted—the Parkway Visual Rwy 13L/R at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport is what’s known as a charted visual flight procedure, or CVFP—it’s the exception rather than the rule. Other non-published approaches exist, too, like contact and radar procedures. Each is different and each has its own rules. Except for radar approach minimums and procedures like the Parkway Visual at JFK, none of them are published. But they all have their own rules and considerations.
